


Atlas Can Hear

by EtaCarinae813



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Abuse, Schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 18:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2318861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtaCarinae813/pseuds/EtaCarinae813
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas is quiet, so quiet. It's like he doesn't want anyone to hear him, to notice his existence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atlas Can Hear

**Atlas Can Hear**

 

Axel meets Roxas when he’s seventeen. The kid is fourteen at the time, blond with wide eyes and a smile so uncertain, it makes Axel want to make him laugh all the time. And he does laugh, in the end. But does it so quietly, it makes Axel wonder if he’s being sincere.

Roxas doesn’t talk very loudly either. Enough that he can be heard, but he never screams, never raises his voice.

 

Roxas always seems just about to collapse too, and light enough that the wind could blow him away.

He never looks anyone in the eyes, avoids being touched. Axel thought maybe the kid had an eating disorder, but Roxas eats fine when they’re together and seems pleased to do so. He’s about to give up on finding what’s wrong with his friend when he’s invited one day to help Roxas pack for his three days field trip, the blond claiming he doesn’t know what to bring, having never been on a trip before.

 

Roxas’ house is tiny, light coming through the windows in blinding white rays at eleven in the morning. Both of the kid’s parents are home but none of them acknowledge the two boys walking up the stairs, talking among themselves in hushed voices.

Roxas has a tiny forced smile on his face when they enter his room.

Axel doesn’t get it at first.

 

Roxas has a huge sport bag on the floor, several clothing items with a pillow and toiletries placed next to it. They go through everything in silence, Axel sometimes asking if he doesn’t have anything less old looking or less worn because they’re going to a cold place in the high part of the town. Roxas answers in non-committal sounds, and Axel gives up. Maybe he doesn’t after all, but he swears he saw newer looking clothes in the cupboard next to the bed.

 

Axel feels something is wrong when he meets Roxas’ twin: a boy sporting brown hair, colorful clothes, a huge smile and a loud voice. He throws himself on the bed talking on the phone about the field trip and what kind of things he hopes to find there.

At some point he hangs up, goes out and comes back with a red suitcase, starting to fill it with the clothes from the cupboard, singing under his breath.

Not once does he look at his brother.

 

Three days later, Roxas comes back from his trip, looking exhausted and about to cry.

Axel muses asking what’s wrong, but decides against it. He doesn’t know much about the kid after all; maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it.

Over the course of the next days, he can’t help but think about what could have happen during the trip. Roxas never talked very loudly before but he can barely be heard now, never saying anything even remotely substantial, talking about the weather and the news but never giving opinions.

 

About a month later, he goes back to the kid’s house. His parents are still there, watching the television like they don’t really see it.

Roxas closes the door but a gush a wind makes it slam, and Axel just about bolts when Roxas’ parents stand from their seats to glare at their child as if he just said something terribly insulting.

The blond starts to shake and with a tiny voice whispers pleading and apologies to no one in particular.

Axel leaves.

It’s not that he hates the kid or anything, but this was weird and he felt out of place, and just plain wrong. So he left.

Three days later he sees Roxas again, looking lost next to the town’s announcement board.

He goes up to the kid, feeling bad about the last time.

He doesn’t ask what’s wrong: he knows Roxas won’t answer. Instead he looks around and finds kids to be about Roxas’ age staring at them expectantly.

He saw them around lately, since after the trip. Looking like they expect Roxas to do something incredible without notice.

 

He feels like actually talking to the kid about what happened during the trip, not because he cares but he’s really just curious, and because Roxas has become considerably weirder.

So they go to his house, the same tiny house, with the blinding orange lights of four in the afternoon.

No one else is here to watch them go upstairs, Roxas still walking without making a noise. But Axel trips and a loud bang can be heard in the silence of the house.

Roxas whips his head, and put a finger on his mouth. Axel nods, uneasy.

 

He’s somewhat tired when he gets in the twins’ room. So he decides to sit on the bed, but just before he does so, Roxas whispers an interdiction. Axel decides to stay standing. He doesn’t have much of a choice, anyway. Nevertheless, he asks why he can’t.

The answer is not what he expected.

The bed is Sora’s. The clothes in the cupboards are Sora’s. The room is Sora’s. Roxas just has the right to stay because they don’t have any other rooms. Everything that Roxas got in the sports bag is Roxas’. It’s all he has.

Axel jokes, asking if he sleeps on the floor, like a dog. He feels sick when Roxas looks at the pillow on the floor, next to the little pile of clothes and the old black sports bag.

 

He feels like leaving again. Leaving the kid to his misery and fucked up life. Instead he starts shouting about how disgusting this all is. Roxas looks so startled, he feels bad for making the kid realize the conditions he lives in.

But Roxas hisses a single sentence: “Stop, Atlas can hear!”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after a long time thinking if I should or not, as it is a subject that's very sensible. I decided to not make it exactly explicit. So if you have any question you're free to ask me.  
> I feel like writing sequel of sorts that would explain things.If you're interested in reading it you can say so.  
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
